Rail-anchor.



.T. M. SCOTT.

RAIL ANCHOR.

'APPLIOA'EIONIILED AUG. 2a, 1913.

LQQUflQfi, Patented Mar. 24, 19M

2 SHEET8-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES:

J. M. SCOTT. RAIL ANCHOR. APPLEOATION FILED AUG. 26,1913.

Patented Mar.24,1 914 2 'SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A TTORNE Y:

JOHN M. SCOTT, 0F RACINE, WISCCNSIN, ASSIGNOR To OTTO R. BARNETT, 0F (lHICAG-O,

ILLINOIS.

RAIL-ANCHOR.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN MrSCOTT, a citizen of the United States, residin at Racine, in the county of Racine and Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Anchors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for preventing the longitudinal creep. of railroad 'rails, these devices being commonly known as rail anchors, rail stays or anti-creepers.

The object of the invention'is to provide a device of thissort which will be Very strong and reliable in its hold upon the rail which cannot be easily loosened or shaken off the rail by the vibration of the latter, or

similarly disturbing influences, and which, furthermore, will be very simple in its construction, easily put in place by unskilled labor, and which will also be very inexpensive to manufacture.

\ A more particular object of the invention is to provide an improved one-piece rail anchor of the type which is provided with an abutment and jaw at one end and a jaw at the other end, arranged in such relation to each other that the jaw at the end opposite the abutment is held away from the tie so that, while the device is applicable to the base of the rail by applying it in an angular position and then turning it to gripping position, in which position the tendency of the rail to creep also tends to further twist the device and: tighten its grip upon the rail.

loose, to cause it to move backwardly on the rail so that the subsequent expansion of the rail does not bring the abutment in contact with the tie, and hence the abutment, which furnishes the fulcrum for the canting action of the device, becomes inoperative, and there is no tension to hold the device in gripping engagement with the rail.

It is the purpose of my invention to so:

construct a device of this character that, after it has been applied to-the rail, a part tate of Specification of Letters Patent. Patented lllail'. 24L, 1914:. Application filed August 26, 1913. Serial No. 786,647.

thereof may be bent to bringthe device into' such tight engagement with the rail that it cannot be shaken loose therefrom and, if

properly applied, will at all times hold the rail w th a sufiiciently tight grip to maintain 1ts original position on the rail,so that, al-

though the, abutment may be withdrawn from engagement with the tie by the contraction of the rail, the subsequent expansion of the rail, or any creeping of the rail, will reliably bring the abutment back again into engagement with the tie, whereupon any further tendency of the rail to creep will cause the device to move about the fulcrum furnished by the abutment to insure a rigid and effective anti-creeping grip of the device on the rail.

The one-piece anchor commonly in use at the present time is not altogether reliable in vits action for the reason that its method of application to the rail necessitates relatively small areas of effective contact between the gripping portions of the device and the rail,-

and furthermore, a degree ofaccuracy in the' design and proportioning of theparts of the device which cannot be counted upon in malleable castings turned out in large numbers. Furthermore, these anchors, even when structurally perfect 'and. exactly proportioned to therails on which they are used, require a certain amount of skill in their application to said rails, or else they fail to operate successfully under practical conditions; one difliculty, for example, being that the jaws must be tightened-on the rail and at the same time the abutting portion of the anchor brought into contact with the tie against which the device operates.

My invention provides a rail anchor which while not costing more than the familiar one-piece anchor now used, is much more easily applied to the rail and can be applied so as to take a much firmer and more reliable hold upon the rail. 1

The broad idea of constructing a rail anchor so that it may be bent, after application to the rail, so as to bring the rail gripping jaws into operative engagement with the rail, is disclosed and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 786,646, filed August 26, 1913. Whatever is common to that application and this it is my intention to claim in that application and not in the present one.

The invention is shown, in a preferred cmposition which the device takes in its appli bpdiment, it being understood that modificationsmight be made without departure from the principle of the invention, in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure l is a side view of the device fitted to a rail, the rail being shown in cross section; Fig. 2, a plan view showing the first performing its anti-creeper function, and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 4..

Like characters of reference designate.

like parts in the several figures of the drawings.

- Referring to the drawings, A designates a railway rail provided with the usual base 1' flanges a, and B one of the cross ties on which-the rail is supported.

The device of my invention, in the preferred form shown, consists of a single malleable casting formed so as to provide a rail gripping member 0, formed at opposite ends with jaws D and E, and a strut F formed with a tie abutting flange G designed to bear against the tie B. Preferably the strut F is :omposed of tworelatively thin webs f, f.

The several positions of the device, with relation to the rail shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, represent the method of application to the rail. The device is thrust under the rail and one of the jaws D or E, the jaw D for example, fitted over the edge of one of the base flanges A as shown in Fig. 2. The device'is designed so that in this case the inner edge of the other jaw E clears the edge of the'opposite base flange. The device is then turned to the position shown in Fig. 3.- This if need be, may betightened brings both aws in engagement with the base flanges of the rail and this engagement, by hammering the device on the rail. The tie abutting flange G of the strut F bears against the tie B. -'In this position the device is operative on the familiar principle of the typical onepiece rail anchor, as the jaws D and E may be caused to grip the rail with such a sufliciently tight grip that any creeping of the rail toward the tie will rock the device about the abutment as afulcrum, causing it to more tightly grip the rail. Consequently, my improved device, even if improperly applied, 1S quite as efficient as the familiar type of one-piece device upon which it isan improvement. In properly applying. my devlce, however, the strut'F is now bent and driven to the position shown in Fig. 4 by hammering on its outer end. In the preferred embodiment of my device thls brings fore, it performs this function regardless of I .whether it extends over .and grips the rail base, or whether it merely abuts against it. Therefore, while the member H is shown and described as a jaw, it will be seen that in purpose and function it is primarily an abutment which may or may not be of a jaw or gripping form. Therefore, in the specification and claims, the term jaw as applied to the member Hshould be understood merely as a term of convenience, applicable to any element performing the primary function of abutting or engaging the rail when thestrut has been bent so as t preVent the reverse rotation of the device. Preferably, the jaw E is held snugly in engagement with the rail by means of a crow-bar or any other convenient implement, while the strut is being bent until the jawH is in gripping engagement with the tapered rail base, thereby bringingthe whole device into such snug engagement with the rail that it will not be moved from its position on the rail by vibration or any other usual loosening influences, while the jaw E will have such snug engagement with the rail at all times that any creeping of the rail, when the abutting fiange is in engagement with the tie,

will inevitably swing the device on the abut ment, thus tightening the gripof the jaws D and E on the rail and effectively resisting the tendency of the rail to creep.

It will be seen that the broad idea embedied in my improved device is the provis'on, in a device ofthis character, of a jawcarrying member bendable in such manner that the jaw carried thereby shall be brought into a permanent position on the rail, from which position it cannot be removed without bending the jaw-carrying member in a reverse direction.

The web f has originally a curved configuration. The web f is straighter and is preferably made thinnest at the end nearest the body of the anchor. Asa result of this construction the webs will be bent as shown in Fig. 4, that is, web f will bend at apoint near its junction with the body of the anchor and the web j" will bend with more or less uniformity throughout its length. Preferably the web 7*" is formed with a lug P which comes into contact with the web f when the strut is bent. By these arrangements the strut, when bent and bearing against the tie, has great strength and capacity for re sisting the pressures brought to bear against it. Preferably, though not essentially, the strut is provided with a,jaW H which, by

engaging the edge of the base flange, assists in holding the device in operative position.

While I have referred, in the description and claims, to the device as hearing against a cross tie, it will be readily understood that the device would operate equally well against any stationary element of the roadbed. The invention is not to be understood as limited to a rail which is laid upon crossties. 10 i I claim: v

1. A rail anchor c'om rising a cross-bar provided at opposite end; with jaws adapted to engage the opposite sides of the base flange of a railroad rail, and a strut provided with an. abutment and carrying a third jaw, said strut being bendable so as to bring the third jaw into operative engagement with a rail to which the device has been' applied.

. 2. A rail anchor consisting of a single integral casting formed at opposite ends with rail gripping members and provided with a strut carrying an abutment. and a rail engaging member, said strut being bendable to bring said rail engaging member into engagement with a rail to which the device has been applied. I

3. A rail anchor consisting of a single in tegral casting formed atoppositeends with rail gripping members and provided with a bendable element adapted to bear against a tie on which said rail is supported which consists of two relatively thin webs spacedapart and a tie abutting flange.

4. A rail anchor consisting of a single integral casting formed at opposite ends with rail grippingmembers and provided with a bendable elementadapted to bear'againstlit and carrying one of said first-named rail engaging members, said strut being arranged to hold the rail engaging member'on the opposite side of the rail away from the tie and being bendable to bring the member carried by said strut into engagement with a rail after the device has been applied thereto.

6. A. rail anchor consisting of a single integral'casting formed at opposite ends with rail gripping members and at one end with a strut and tie abutment, a portion of the device being bendable after application to a rail to bring one of the rail engaging members into operative engagement with the rail.

7. A rail anchor consisting of a single ingral casting formed at opposite ends with rail gripping members and provided with a bendable element adapted to bear against a tie, said element comprising two relatively thin webs spaced apart, one of said webs being provided with a lug arranged to engage the other of said webs when said member has been bent to final position.

- JOHN M. SOTT Witnesses:

H. M. GILLEsPm, L. A. FALKENBERG. 

